Jalandhar, May 15
Congress workers, led by a former local bodies minister Chaudhary Jagjit Singh, staged a dharna on the Kapurthala road, near Basti Bawa Khel, here this afternoon to protest against the alleged inaction of the police to handle the case of a reported attack on a Congress worker at Gakhal village on Wednesday night.

Long queues of vehicles were seen on both sides of the road due to a road blockage during the dharna.

Talking to The Tribune, Congress candidate from Zone 18 of the Dhaliwal block samiti Nirmal Singh alleged that SAD candidate Jaswant Singh Pappu, along with his supporters, had attacked Congress worker Dr Piara Lal’s house during their victory procession.

Nirmal alleged that they damaged a car and a motorcycle parked there and misbehaved with ladies. The police did not take any proper action, he alleged.

On the other hand, Maqsoodan SHO Sakattar Singh said he had already recorded the statement which was being verified.

The SHO said the Congressmen were trying to give the issue a political colour. The police caught two persons for pelting stones in a drunken state from the house which they claimed had been attacked, he added.

Hoshiarpur, May 15
The SAD-BJP alliance swept the poll in 24 zones of the zila parishad and 203 zones of the panchayat samitis in the district.

According to deputy commissioner-cum-district election officer N.K. Wadhawan, out of 24 zones of the zila parishad, SAD candidates secured 12 seats while the BJP and the Congress won three and eight seats, respectively. One seat was won by an Independent.

In Binewal zone (SC) Ranjit Singh (Cong) was declared elected. The other elected members are: Amarjit Singh (SAD) in Panam (general), Raj Pal (Cong) in Saila Khurd (general), Rajinder Singh (Ind) in Tuto Mazara (SC), Avtar Singh (SAD) in Barian Kalan (general), Vinod Kumari (Cong) in Chabewal (woman general), Bhupinder Singh (SAD) in Pandori Bibi (general) and Ram Lal Bains (Cong) in Jahan Khelan (SC).

Similarly, Satya Devi (Cong) won in Hardo Khandpur (woman general), Ram Asra (Cong) in Nandachaur (SC), Kishan Singh (SAD) in Bhunga (general), Jaswant Singh (SAD) in Ambala Jattan (SC), Arwinder Singh (SAD) in Jaja (general), Tara Singh (SAD) in Miani (general), Mangat Ram (SAD) in Jhinger Kalan (general), Nirmal Singh (SAD) in Ghogra (SC), Darshana Devi (Cong) in Talwara (SC woman), Daljit Singh (BJP) in Nangal Biahala (general), Asa Singh (SAD) in Tanda Ram Sahai (general), Santosh Kumari (BJP) in Hajipur (SC woman), Gurmit Kaur (BJP) in Bhangala (SC woman), Surinder Kaur (SAD) in Bham (woman), Parminderjit Kaur (SAD) in Khadiala Sainian (woman) and Amarpreet Kaur (Cong) in Sansarpur (woman).

Out of 203 zones in the block samitis, the results of 202 had been declared in which the SAD got 90 seats while its alliance partner BJP secured 44 seats. The Congress managed 50 seats and Independents won 18 seats in the district.

Interestingly, the Congress failed to open its account in the Mahilpur block samiti poll.

The other parties, including the BSP, the CPI, the CPM and the Shiromani Akali Dal (A), did not figure in any of the block samitis.

Amritsar, May 15
Power of questioning, demonstration and use of technology should be encouraged while teaching students as it helps them to have better understanding.

This was stated by Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) chairman Ashok Ganguly here today. He was in the city to interact with school principals of CBSE-affiliated schools from Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana and Batala.

Ganguly laid stress on moving from structural learning process to unstructured and said comprehensive evaluation should be incorporated for both scholastic and co-scholastic aspects of education. He said, “Five-point scale should be used to evaluate students from classes I to V and seven-point for classes VI to VIII.”

He said the board was taking initiatives to reduce stress in students by combining formative and summative testing. The traditional pattern of examinations was obsolete and it there was a need to transform it.

Besides, some new vocational courses and subjects would be introduced for XI and XII grades, he added.

Earlier, Ganguly inaugurated an annual art and craft exhibition “Innovatus” organised by Spring Dale Senior School where students had displayed their skills and talents in the fields of pottery, calligraphy, graphic designing, etc. 

Hoshiarpur, May 15
Providing relief to the family of deceased Surinder Singh of Dheriwal village, the district consumers forum, headed by P.D. Goel, ordered the ICICI, Lombard, and General Insurance Company to pay Rs 1 lakh to the family along with an interest at the rate of 9 per cent per annum from the date of filing the complaint. The forum asked the insurance company to pay Rs 1,000 as litigation expenses.

Wife of the deceased Kamlesh Kaur filed a complaint before the forum stating that her husband had opened a savings account (9987/SP) with Jalandhar Central Cooperative Bank Limited (JCCBL) and was the holder of a group insurance scheme amounting to Rs 1 lakh.

Surinder Singh died in a road accident on August 29, 2005. Despite submitting all the documents, including the death certificate, a copy of the post-mortem report, FIR and certificate from the DTO, Hoshiarpur, with regard to driving licence of the deceased to the bank, the claim of Surinder’s family was repudiated.

The bank stated that the correspondence received from the complainants had been sent to the ICICI, Lombard, and General Insurance Company and the latter pleaded that the required documents, including the driving licence of Surinder Singh, were not submitted, therefore, the claim could not be settled.

The DCF held that the ICICI, Lombard, and General Insurance Company did not produce any evidence to prove that Surinder Singh’s family had not submitted the requisite and relevant documents along with the driving licence of the deceased to them and further the report of the DTO with regard to the driving licence of the deceased, produced on record, was not rebutted by the insurance company.

Amritsar, May 15
Aged woman Balbir Kaur of Sohian Khurd village was found murdered at her residence here on Thursday.

Nephew of the deceased Randip Singh, in his complaint lodged with the police, stated that he used to work in her fields on contract basis as her husband Surjit Singh and son had expired about 20 years ago.

He said he had gone to his village Jagdev Kalan on May 11. When he returned on Thursday, he found the doors locked and nobody responded when knocked at the door a number of times.

He jumped the wall and entered the house only to find his aunt in a pool of blood with grave shrapnel injuries on her neck, arms and wrists. He said several unidentified persons had killed her. — OC

Hoshiarpur, May 15
On a call of the ITIs Bachao Front, Punjab, activists of the Punjab Students Union (PSU), led by state finance secretary Karam Shekha and district president Iqbal Singh, staged a demonstration and rally here today.

The agitators were protesting against the privatisation of ITIs and registration of false cases against 400 students at Barnala. The leaders alleged that the recent lathi charge by the police on students was at the behest of the owners of the Trident group of industries, Barnala.

They warned the government to withdraw the cases against students by May 18, failing which the PSU would stage a mass demonstration at Amritsar on 
May 20. — OC